Between culture, religion and empathy

I do know that corruption is not our only problem in Nigeria but it is sadly one that has blinded our sense of humanity.

Today, Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the organisation in charge of Internally Displaced People (IDP) welfare was under the spotlight for the appalling situation in which many IDPs live.

NEMA claimed to have kept accurate records of IDPs in the northeast and the total victims up to the end of June was 1,385,295. Of this 56% are less than 18 years old and more than 50% are 5 year old or younger and 52% female.

Of all the total number of IDPs 92% are still living with host communities and the rest in NEMA camps in the region.

It is easy to jump on the band wagon to blame NEMA of negligence in their duties but what I found most important was to take in to consideration the enormity of the work at hand and to perhaps have more constructive in our criticisms.

$400M was raised last year for the IDPs, this is quite a decent amount of money to cater for the victims. We also receive aids both practical and material assistance from UNICEF.

So when these photos surfaced on the internet earlier on today, it is no surprise that many Nigerians were not pleased with feeding arrangement of the IDPs.

One, these people already suffered having to be forced out of their homes but to be fed this way says a lot about our lack of empathy towards fellow human beings.

Photo credits: Ogundamisi

To think that more than 650,000 of IDPs are under five years old is terribly worrying – forget that they are belle full, continuous consumption of unbalanced diet will result in malnutrition in no time.

While the role of NEMA is not limited to feeding alone, provision of balanced meal especially for the children is very important otherwise another epidemic is close by.

I have found NEMA figures insightful for another reason:

While feeding conditions & lack of balanced diet and the need for transparencies in the way IDPs fund is spent was the main focus…

I could not stop wondering what more evidence do we require to step up with educating the population on the need for birth control.